


Consistent Inconsistency

by Tatrin



Category: Aldnoah.Zero (Anime & Manga), クジラの子らは砂上に歌う | Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau | Children of the Whales (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alliance Negotiation, F/M, Gen, Worldbuilding, i wrote this for Chakuro's birthday, the last three characters are mentioned only
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:40:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23716843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tatrin/pseuds/Tatrin
Summary: 27 days after the Second War against the Skylos Ship, the Mud Whale encountered a foreign ship – Deucalion.Which led to a meeting for an alliance agains the Empire.
Relationships: Asseylum Vers Allusia & Kaizuka Inaho, Chakuro & Suou, Kaizuka Inaho & Darzana Magbaredge
Kudos: 6





	Consistent Inconsistency

**Author's Note:**

> I intended to write the (also) criminally under-appreciated anime 'Number24' (Yuzuki Natsusa is the dream come true lead badass character), but the 18 April is apparently Chakuro's birthday, so.

_27 days after the Second War against the Skylos Ship, the Mud Whale encountered a foreign ship – Deucalion_.

Chakuro cast a watchful eye on the entourage surrounding a woman in a long, flowing white dress who seems to be of high importance. She didn’t _seem_ to be leading the Deucalion group though. Much of the conversational argument came from another woman with a rigid shoulder that reminded Chakuro of the Elder Chakuro disliked the least, with very pointed inputs from a red-eyed, younger male whose blank face far surpassed Ouni’s.

 _Princess Asseylum vers Allusia. Captain Darzana Magbaredge. Kaizuka Inaho/Kaizuka Junior/Inahosan (?)._ Chakuro glanced at the upper corner of his first page behind the current one he was writing on, where he had hastily written their names during the rounds of introduction. He was curious to notice that foreigners seem to possess more than one name because everyone on the Mud Whale only goes by one name. Listening to them talking to each other, Chakuro figured that some of these ‘names’ were actually ‘titles’ because most called the lady in white ‘Princess’ while Kaizuka only called her as ‘Seylum’, and the male was either called ‘Kaizuka Junior’, ‘Kaizuka’, or ‘Inahosan’. Safe to say the first page was riddled with names and callings. Chakuro made a mental note to better filter it out when he archived his report to Suou.

_The Council was wary at first when Deucalion approached them, but after two hours of non-hostile contact, Mayor Suou had Gareki flare a signal to set a meeting between the leaders of respective ships._

_The Mud Whale needs allies to face the Empire who – according to Lykos – is being convinced by her older brother to purge the people of the Mud Whale rather than leave us to wander as we have for 100 years._

_Meanwhile, Deucalion needs provisions and aid to stave off their sustainability problems. Unlike the Mud Whale, Deucalion consists of war refugees._ Chakuro’s ability to observe was superior than most, and his eyes didn’t need to linger too long on Captain Magbaredge’s person to notice that the scars on her hands wasn’t old.

“I extend my well-wishes for your people, in that case,” Suou said, clasping his hands together as he heard the recounting of their struggles. “My people would be happy to give you some food, but I’m afraid I must apologise because I have a request I wish you to hear.”

“Within reason.”

“Kaizuka Junior!” Captain Magbaredge barked in reprimand. The boy didn’t look reprimanded at all, merely side glancing his leader and turning his gaze back to Suou.

“Of course. You see, my people are a target of the Empire. It has merely been two weeks when we stopped them from slaughtering us. We are not trained people. We have only lived in peace until very recently,” Suou’s eyes flickered in sorrow. “I would not presume to trade food for soldiers, but the Mud Whale needs all hands that can be lend for when the Empire strikes again.”

“Do you expect us to stay, Mayor Suou?” Captain Magbaredge pressed. “The people on Deucalion are not a well-knit family such as yours. We are a group of survivors from various lands that the Empire have torn and ravaged. We are drifting with limited supplies and most of us are aiming to find help and a possible new home, not to be drafted into further war.”

“Captain Magbaredge, can we not afford to help them?” The Princess enquired, clasping her hands in the same manner as Suou but quickly. “It is not fair for us to receive aid when we do not give one in re—eh,” She looked at the hand that clasped her left shoulder. “Inaho-san?”

The boy somehow conveyed disappointment without visibly moving any facial expression. “It’s not a matter of fairness.”

Chakuro re-evaluated his interpretation of the hierarchy as the Princess looked chastised, “I still do not understand, nor do I agree.”

“It’s a matter of clearing up arbitrary points,” his body still faced the Princess but his gaze slid to Suou. “In exchange for giving you aid for a war without a time limit, you would give us some food that will inevitably run out.” The last word lacked any inflection, but Chakuro figured everyone heard the intended question from the statement anyway.

“No, Kaizuka Junior, I actually hope our alliance will last as long as we can manage.”

“Then it will fall the moment lives are lost.”

“It won’t.”

Facing an expression _that unreadable_ after his feelings opened his mouth was almost enough to make Chakuro visibly flinch.

“While we are refugees, everyone has been trained in some type of combat, as is mandatory in most of our lands,” the boy – who, come to think of it, kind of shared a passing resemblance with Chakuro now that he’s directly facing him – revealed. “We’re likely to be placed on the front lines, and we’re likely the ones who will bear losses.”

Chakuro made sure to memorise everything after this because he wasn’t likely to slip in the background and freely write everything as he witnessed. It’d be – _annoying_ – if he forgets an important detail from the following conversation sequences. “While we’ve lived in peace, everyone has also been trained, and we have at least four people whose thymia and combat abilities likely surpassed anyone else’s, according to my observations during the Second War. We’re looking for help, not to throw other people off the board.”

The Princess then – unmistakably – looked at Chakuro, “Your observations? But, you’re an archivist, and you are young,” her eyes drooped, “Were you sent on the front lines?”

“He was,” Suou answered before Chakuro could offer any reply. “He didn’t include himself to make that number five.”

It seems to be an undesirable response, because Captain Magbaredge’s face darkened. “Do you share the Empire’s penchant for child soldiers? If you’re looking at Kaizuka Junior then rest assured, he’s only a soldier because most of the refugees are young.”

Suou’s retainers’ face stormed, but they held their tongue because they knew better. Chakuro knew better but he only held his tongue because Suou was clearly calming himself down, having closed his eyes. After a brief moment, Chakuro saw that Suou has reached a decision, and the green-haired man gave her a stern face. “Are you aware of Nous?”

She nodded.

“Are you aware of ours, Nous Falaina?”

She eyed him sharply, then nodded.

Chakuro’s hands steadied his board, replaced the interrupted paper with the extra empty parchment, and wrote again.

_To deescalate the tension after equating Mayor Suou with the Empire regarding the enlisting child soldiers, he revealed the truth behind Mud Whale’s Nous. Somehow different than the rest, Nous Falaina doesn’t exchange thymia ability for emotions, but lifespans instead._

Out of everyone, the Princess was the most distraught. No one was trying to vaporise the other with a glare, and Chakuro saw even the constantly strict-faced retainer near the Princess soften.

“I see,” Captain Magbaredge said. “We didn’t think you were Shiruishi. You displayed emotions and have genuine empathy…” She cleared her throat. “Well, if we are to enter into an alliance to _stand against_ the Empire, forwarding relevant information is important. None of the people in Deucalion are Shiruishi.”

Chakuro _almost_ created a hole when he dotted the sentence. “What about the Nous in your ship?” Because a ship like Deucalion _has_ to have a heart.

“We don’t worship it. We just have the means to steer it.” They didn’t indicate who it is, but Chakuro guessed when the Princess glanced down, even though she recovered quickly. “I suppose our circumstances are similar than we thought.”

“Your circumstances do not validate ours,” the red-eyed boy cut in again.

“Junior,” the Captain hissed.

The boy still looked nonplussed. “If you give a hungry man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”

“Ah, pardon…?” Suou asked.

“We’re not looking for a war, but to survive.”

Chakuro glanced down at the string of words he automatically and swiftly wrote, pondering its meaning with the lack of actual elaboration, but elaboration nonetheless. “We’ll need to inspect Deucalion, but I think we can agree on this.”

“Chakuro?” Suou asked.

“I think Kaizuka Junior meant, rather than giving them food, we should teach them how to grow food on their own.”


End file.
